August 6
Events *1538 - Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada. *1787 - Sixty proof sheets of the Constitution of the United States are delivered to the Constitutional Convention. *1806 - Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicates, thus ending the Holy Roman Empire. *1819 - Norwich University founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States. *1825 - Bolivia gains independence from Spain. *1845 - Russian Geographical Society is founded in Saint Petersburg. *1861 - British annexation of Lagos, Nigeria. *1862 - American Civil War: The Confederate ironclad [[Wikipedia:CSS Arkansas|CSS Arkansas]] is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering damage in a battle with [[Wikipedia:USS Essex (1856)|USS Essex]] near Baton Rouge, Louisiana. *1870 - Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Wœrth is fought, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory. *1890 - At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by electric chair. *1901 - Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation. *1909 - Alice Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip. *1912 - The Bull Moose Party meets at the Chicago Coliseum. *1914 - World War I: First Battle of the Atlantic - Two days after the United Kingdom declared war on Germany over the German invasion of Belgium, ten German U-boats leave their base in Heligoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea. * 1914 - World War I: Serbia declares war on Germany; Austria declares war on Russia. * 1914 - Denis Patrick Dowd Jr. enlists in the French Foreign Legion, becoming the first American to fight in World War I. *1915 - World War I: Battle of Sari Bair - The Allies mount a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay. *1917 - World War I: The Battle of Mărăşeşti between the Romanian and German armies begins. *1923 - Henry Sullivan swims the English Channel. *1926 - Gertrude Ederle becomes first woman to swim across the English Channel. * 1926 - In New York, the Warner Brothers' Vitaphone system premieres with the movie Don Juan starring John Barrymore. * 1926 - Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping. *1941 - A curfew is imposed on US gas stations in preparation for the upcoming war. *1942 - Queen Wilhelmina is the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress. *1945 - World War II: Hiroshima is devastated when an atomic bomb, "Little Boy", is dropped by the United States B-29 Enola Gay. Around 70,000 people were killed instantly. *1956 - After going bankrupt in 1955, the American broadcaster DuMont Television Network has its final broadcast, a boxing match from St. Nicholas Arena. *1958 - Sports: Australian runner Herb Elliot broke the world record for the mile at the Morton Stadium in Dublin, in a time of 3:54.5. *1960 - Cuban Revolution: In response to a United States embargo, Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation. *1961 - Second successful manned orbital flight (USSR, Gherman Titov) *1962 - Jamaica becomes independent. *1964 - Prometheus, the world's oldest tree, is cut down. *1965 - US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into United States law. *1966 - Braniff Airlines Flight 250 crashes in Falls City killing all 42 on board. *1976 - Zulfikar Ali Bhutto lays foundation-stone of Port Qasim, Karachi. *1986 - A low-pressure system that redeveloped off the New South Wales coast dumps a record 328 millimetres (13 inches) of rain in a day on Sydney. *1988 - "Tompkins Square Park Police Riot" in New York City. A riot erupted in Tompkins Square Park when police attempted to enforce a newly-passed curfew for the park. Bystanders, artists, residents, homeless people and political activists were caught up in the police action that took place on the night of August 6 and the early morning of August 7. *1990 - Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. *1991 - Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW debuts as a publicly available service on the Internet. * 1991 - Doi Takako, chair of the Social Democratic Party, becomes Japan's first female speaker of the House of Representatives. *1993 - Louis Freeh is confirmed by the United States Senate to be the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. * 1996 - NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms. *1997 - Microsoft buys $150 million worth of shares of financially troubled Apple Computer. * 1997 - Korean Air Flight 801, a Boeing 747-300, crashes into the jungle on Guam on approach to airport, killing 228. *2000 - The Roman Catholic Church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under Prefect Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, publishes Dominus Iesus, notable for its lack of the filioque clause in the Latin text of the Nicene Creed. *2001 - White House briefing entitled Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S. delivered to George W. Bush. This document foreshadowed the September 11. *2002 - Marquis de la Fayette is made Honorary Citizen of the United States * 2002 - Manindra Agrawal et al prove the long standing number theory conjecture in the article entitled Primes in P. * 2007 - The Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah collapses trapping 6 men. Births *1180 - Emperor Go-Toba of Japan (d. 1239) *1504 - Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1575) *1619 - Barbara Strozzi, Italian singer and composer (d. 1677) *1638 - Nicolas Malebranche, French philosopher (d. 1715) *1644 - Louise de la Vallière, French mistress of Louis XIV of France (d. 1710) *1656 - Claude de Forbin, French naval commander (d. 1733) *1697 - Charles VII (d. 1745) *1715 - Luc de Clapiers, French writer (d. 1747) *1766 - William Hyde Wollaston, English chemist (d. 1828) *1768 - Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French marshal (d. 1813) *1775 - Daniel O'Connell, Irish politician (d. 1847) *1809 - Alfred Lord Tennyson, English poet (d. 1892) *1844 - James Henry Greathead, British engineer (d. 1896) * 1844 - Alfred (d. 1900) *1861 - Edith Roosevelt, American First Lady of the United States (d. 1948) *1868 - Paul Claudel, French poet (d. 1955) *1874 - Charles Fort, American writer and researcher (d. 1932) *1877 - Wallace H. White, American politician (d. 1952) *1880 - Hans Moser, Austrian actor (d. 1964) *1881 - Leo Carrillo, American actor (d. 1961) * 1881 - Alexander Fleming, Scottish scientist, Nobel laureate (d. 1955) * 1881 - Louella Parsons, American gossip columnist (d. 1972) *1887 - Dudley Benjafield, British racing driver (d. 1957) *1888 - Heinrich Schlusnus, German baritone (d. 1952) *1889 - John Middleton Murry, English poet (d. 1957) * 1889 - George Kenney, American Air Force General (d. 1977) *1891 - William Slim, British general (d. 1970) *1892 - Hoot Gibson, American actor (d. 1962) *1893 - Wright Patman, American politician (d. 1976) *1900 - Cecil H. Green, American geophysicist (d. 2003) *1902 - Dutch Schultz, American bootlegger (d. 1935) *1904 - Henry Iba, American basketball coach (d. 1993) *1906 - Vic Dickenson, American trombonist (d. 1984) *1908 - Helen Jacobs, American tennis player (d. 1997) * 1908 - Will Lee, American actor (d. 1982) *1910 - Charles Crichton, British film director (d. 1999) *1911 - Lucille Ball, American actress (d. 1989) *1914 - Arthur Charles Dobson, British racing driver (d. 1980) *1916 - Richard Hofstadter, American historian (d. 1970) * 1916 - Dom Mintoff, Maltese Prime Minister *1917 - Robert Mitchum, American actor (d. 1997) *1918 - Norman Granz, American record producer (d. 2001) *1920 - Ella Raines, American actress (d. 1988) *1922 - Sir Freddie Laker, English entrepreneur (d. 2006) *1923 - Jess Collins, American artist (d. 2004) *1925 - Barbara Bates, American actress (d. 1969) *1926 - Clem Labine, American baseball player (d. 2007) *1926 - Norman Wexler, American screenwriter (d. 1999) * 1926 - Frank Finlay, British actor *1928 - Andy Warhol, American artist (d. 1987) * 1928 - Herb Moford, American baseball player (d. 2005) *1929 - Roch La Salle, Canadian politician (d. 2007) *1930 - Abbey Lincoln, American jazz singer *1932 - Howard Hodgkin, British painter *1934 - Piers Anthony, English writer *1937 - Barbara Windsor, English actress * 1937 - Baden Powell de Aquino, Brazilian guitarist (d. 2000) *1938 - Paul Bartel, American actor (d. 2000) * 1938 - Peter Bonerz, American actor *1940 - Mukhu Aliyev, Dagestanian politician *1941 - Lyle Berman, American poker player * 1941 - Ray Culp, American baseball player *1942 - George Jung, American convicted drug felon *1943 - Jon Postel, American computer scientist (d. 1998) *1945 - Andy Messersmith, American baseball player * 1945 - Ron Jones, British TV director (d. 1995) *1946 - Allan Holdsworth, British musician * 1946 - Roh Moo-hyun, South Korean politician * 1946 - Masaaki Sakai, Japanese comedian *1948 - Dino Bravo, Canadian professional wrestler (d. 1993) *1949 - Alan Campbell, Northern Irish clergyman * 1949 - Clarence Richard Silva, Catholic Bishop of Honolulu *1950 - Dorian Harewood, American actor *1951 - Daryl Somers, Australian television personality * 1951 - Catherine Hicks, American actress *1952 - Vinnie Vincent, American musician (ex-Kiss) *1954 - Paul Steigerwald, American sports announcer *1957 - Jim McGreevey, American politician * 1957 - Bob Horner, American baseball player *1962 - Michelle Yeoh, Chinese-Malaysian actress * 1962 - Marc Lavoine, French singer and actor *1963 - Kevin Mitnick, American computer hacker *1964 - Moosie Drier, American actor and director *1965 - Yuki Kajiura, Japanese composer * 1965 - David Robinson, American basketball player *1967 - Archbishop Alexy * 1967 - Mike Greenberg, American sportscaster * 1967 - Julie Snyder, Quebec talk show host and producer *1969 - Elliott Smith, American musician (d. 2003) *1970 - M. Night Shyamalan, Indian-born American film director *1971 - Merrin Dungey, American actress *1972 - Geri Halliwell, British singer (Spice Girls) *1973 - Vera Farmiga, American actress * 1973 - Max Kellerman, American sportscaster * 1973 - Stuart O'Grady, Australian cyclist *1974 - Luis Vizcaino, Dominican baseball player *1975 - Victor Zambrano, Venezuelan baseball player *1975 - Jamie McGonnigal, American Actor, Director, Producer * 1975 - Renate Götschl, Austrian alpine skier *1976 - Melissa George, Australian actress * 1976 - Soleil Moon Frye, American actress *1977 - Jimmy Nielsen, Danish footballer * 1977 - Leandro Amaral, Brazilian footballer *1978 - Marisa Miller, American supermodel *1980 - Danny Collins, Welsh footballer *1980 - Wilber Pan, American-born Taiwanese singer *1982 - Karl Davies, British actor *1982 - Derek Mount, American guitarist (Family Force 5) * 1982 - Adrianne Curry, American model * 1982 - Ryan Sypek, American actor *1983 - Robin van Persie, Dutch footballer *1986 - Bryan Young, Canadian ice hockey player *1990 - JonBenét Ramsey, American murder victim (d. 1996) Deaths * 258 - Saint Pope Sixtus II * 523 - Saint Pope Hormisdas *1162 - Ramon Berenguer IV *1195 - Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony and Bavaria (b. 1129) *1221 - Saint Dominic, Spanish founder of the Dominicans (b. 1170) *1272 - King Stephen V of Hungary *1414 - King Ladislas of Naples (b. 1377) *1458 - Pope Callixtus III (b. 1378) *1623 - Anne Hathaway (b. 1556) *1628 - Johannes Junius, Mayor of Bamberg (b. 1573) *1637 - Ben Jonson, English writer (b. 1572) *1645 - Lionel Cranfield, English merchant (b. 1575) *1657 - Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Polish-Lithuanian noble *1660 - Diego Velázquez, Spanish painter (b. 1599) *1679 - John Snell, English royalist (b. 1629) *1694 - Antoine Arnauld, French philosopher and mathematician (b. 1612) *1695 - François de Harlay de Champvallon, French Catholic archbishop (b. 1625) *1753 - Georg Wilhelm Richmann, Russian physicist (struck by lightning) (b. 1711) *1759 - Eugene Aram, English philologist (b. 1704) *1794 - Henry Bathurst, British politician (b. 1714) *1815 - James A. Bayard, United States Senator from Delaware (b. 1767) *1828 - Konstantin von Benckendorff, Russian general and statesman *1850 - Edward Walsh, Irish poet (b. 1805) *1866 - John Mason Neale, English divine, scholar and hymnwriter (b. 1818) *1881 - James White, co-founder of the Seventh-day Adventist Church (b. 1821) *1884 - Robert Spear Hudson, English businessman (b. 1812) *1893 - Jean-Jacques Challet-Venel, member of the Swiss Federal Council (b. 1811) *1904 - Eduard Hanslick, Austrian music critic (b. 1825) *1914 - Ellen Louise Wilson, first wife of President Woodrow Wilson (b. 1860) *1920 - Stefan Bastyr, Polish aviator, first flight in independent Poland (b. 1890) *1931 - Bix Beiderbecke, American musician (b. 1903) *1945 - Hiram Johnson, American politician (b. 1866) * 1945 - Prince Wu of Korea (b. 1912) * 1945 - Richard Bong, America's all time Ace of Aces (b. 1920) *1946 - Tony Lazzeri, American baseball player (b. 1903) *1959 - Preston Sturges, American playwright, screenwriter, and director (b. 1898) *1964 - Sir Cedric Hardwicke, English actor (b. 1893) *1966 - Cordwainer Smith, American writer (b. 1913) *1969 - Theodor Adorno, German sociologist and philosopher (b. 1903) *1973 - Memphis Minnie, American blues singer (b. 1897) * 1973 - Fulgencio Batista, Cuban president and de facto leader (b. 1901) *1974 - Gene Ammons, American jazz saxophonist (b. 1925) *1976 - Gregor Piatigorsky, Russian cellist (b. 1903) *1978 - Pope Paul VI (b. 1897) *1979 - Feodor Felix Konrad Lynen, German biochemist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1911) *1983 - Klaus Nomi, German singer (b. 1944) *1985 - Forbes Burnham, President of Guyana (b. 1923) *1986 - Emilio Fernández, Mexican actor, screenwriter and film director (b. 1904) *1987 - Ira Eaker, American Air Force leader (b. 1896) *1990 - Jacques Soustelle, French anthropologist (b. 1912) *1991 - Roland Michener, Canadian politician and governor general (b. 1900) * 1991 - Shapour Bakhtiar, Former Iranian prime minister, assassinated in Paris (b. 1915) * 1991 - Harry Reasoner, American reporter (b. 1923) *1993 - Tex Hughson, American baseball player (b. 1916) *1994 - Domenico Modugno, Italian singer and songwriter (b. 1928) *1998 - Andre Weil, French mathematician (b. 1906) *2001 - Jorge Amado de Faria, Brazilian writer (b. 1912) * 2001 - Dorothy Tutin, English actress (b. 1930) *2002 - Edsger Dijkstra, Dutch computer scientist (b. 1930) *2004 - Rick James, American musician (b. 1948) *2005 - Ibrahim Ferrer, Cuban musician (Buena Vista Social Club) (b. 1927) * 2005 - Keter Betts, American jazz bassist (b. 1928) * 2005 - Robin Cook, British politician (b. 1946) *2007 - Zsolt Daczi, Hungarian rock guitarist (Bikini, Omen, Carpathia Project, Tirana Rockers, solo) (b. 1969) * 2007 - Heinz Barth, German war criminal (b. 1920) Holidays and observances *Bolivia - Independence Day. *Jamaica - Independence Day. *United Arab Emirates - H.H. Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan's Accession Day. *Japan - Toro Nagashi (Hiroshima) - Floating lantern ceremony to honor those killed by the U.S. atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Roman Catholicism *Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ *Saint Agapitus (died 258) *Saint Donatus, bishop of Arezzo, martyr Paris *Saints Felissimus and Agapitus, martyrs common *Joachim (father of Mary, according to Catholic tradition) *Saints Justus and Pastor, martyrs in 304 at Complutum France *St. Xystus/Sixtus II, pope, martyr common *Saint Walburga, virgin Bruges Eastern Orthodoxy *Feast of the Transfiguration of Christ External links * BBC: On This Day * * On This Day in Canada ---- Category:August